Know Your Candidates

This is the fourth in a several-week series of profiles of the six candidates to succeed Joe Riley as mayor of Charleston. The candidates are Ginny Deerin, W. Dudley Gregorie, Toby Smith, Leon Stavrinakis, John Tecklenburg, and Maurice Washington.
Maurice Washington is a married father of four, with four grandchildren. For the past two decades, he has worked in the securities and insurance industry, and is the president of Trust Management, LLC, a financial and consulting services company.
A two-term City Councilman from 1991-1999, Washington served as chair of its Ways and Means Committee, and was appointed mayor pro-tem in 1992. Former S.C. Gov Mark Sanford named Washington to his transition team, where he assisted with numerous board and commission appointments.
This is Washington’s second mayoral campaign, having run against Riley in 1999, losing about as badly as everyone else who’d run against Riley.
Washington wants a Charleston that works for everyone, preaching inclusivity in most of his campaign planks – to wit, his mayoral website is available in English, Spanish, and Chinese. His top issue appears to be education, normally the bailiwick of the county, which he argues is everyone’s business.
Washington says his first act as mayor would be to review every line item in the city budget, something he may be best at in the field considering his finance background.
Like other candidates, Washington calls for a focus on traffic problems, but puts city planning as the top remedy. Widening and improving have their place, but not creating future problems is key here, he believes.
Born and raised in a city housing project, elevating him to become an assistant to a governor, Washington has covered a lot of ground.